How Long Does It Take for a Rose Seed to Grow?

Roses can also propagate through vegetative canes, rooting where they touch ground.

Growing roses from seed may prove challenging, since they require a period of simulated cold, also known as stratification, and germinate temperamentally. Rose seed germination may take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years, depending on the species. Once you see the seedling appear, however, roses can grow quite quickly. Beware that while most species roses come true from seed, cultivars and hybrids do not and are usually propagated vegetatively.

Cold Stratification

If you are trying to grow roses from seed, your best bet is to subject them to a period of simulated cold temperatures in the refrigerator before planting them in soil. Temperatures and timing vary, but usually rose seeds need a period of cold for around four months to simulate dropping to the soil in fall and remaining there throughout the winter before germinating in spring. You can also simply plant rose seeds in the ground in fall, although this method may be less reliable, and they will not appear before spring at the earliest.

Germination Time

Rose seed germination depends on the individual rose seed and can vary widely. Some species, however, do germinate much faster than others. According to Texas A&M; University, hybrid tea roses such as “Dolly Parton” (Rosa “Dolly Parton”), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9, may appear as quickly as two weeks after cold stratification, though it can also take them several months to germinate. Other species, such as the nootka rose (Rosa nutkana), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 8, can take up to two years to germinate.

Seedling Development

Hybrid tea roses will produce blooms only about six weeks after germination, which, if seeds germinate quickly, may be only about eight weeks after planting. Even nootka roses are quick growers once they germinate. They reach sexual maturity in between two and five years, meaning that they can be fertilized and produce their own seeds, and hit their full height at 10 years.

Other Germination Factors

Several factors can influence how quickly or well a seed germinates. Multiflora or Japanese rose seeds (Rosa multiflora), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9 and highly invasive, germinate more reliably if they have passed through the digestive tract of a bird. Some plants do best with a period of warm stratification before the cold stratification, such as a one-month period at 75 degrees F beforehand. Some rose seeds also germinate during cold stratification and usually do not survive the transplant process.